COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONBlack IPA doesn’t quite seem to make sense, does it? How can something that’s black also be described as pale?
Noonan is our interpretation of a New England original, the Black IPA. Dark like a porter, but hoppy like an IPA, this seemingly contradictory beer style originated in 1994, in Burlington, Vermont by brewer Glenn Walters and under the watchful eye of Greg Noonan. Greg was many things, a brewing pioneer and author, founder of three brewpubs, 2005 Russell Scherer award winner and genealogist. When Greg passed away suddenly, Smuttynose’s brewing team wanted to brew a beer in his memory and this was the result. We hope you find it a worthy tribute as well.
Noonan (the beer) looks like an ordinary porter or stout, until you get the pint up to your nose. You can’t avoid the big whiff of piney, herbal and citrusy American hops, but there’s virtually no roasted character. Ponderous, huh? When you take a sip, you’ll notice that the beer doesn’t taste a lot like a porter either. Instead of the expected astringency imparted by dark grains, you’ll find a depth of caramel malts and more American hops. Don’t worry that’s by design; it’s also what we love about the beer.

12oz bottle: Pours a mostly opaque dark mahogany with a clingy-lacing froth of light tan head. Has a lightly sweet dark malty nose with some light piny hop notes. Starts with pretty good fullness and malty sweetness with a good hop balance and light citrus character before a drier bittersweet finish. A little subdued for the style, but errs on the side of drinkability.

12 oz. bottle. Pours a dark cola brown color with a large, lasting khaki head. The aroma is roasted malts, dark chocolate, hints of coffee and some resiny hops. The flavor has some dark malts, but not very roasted, thin black coffee and resiny hops that seem a bit green. I wish the flavor followed the nose. This is a touch thin and missing some of the roasted qualities that make this style work.

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